3 10 216 https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/fd11b908dbaf557a5e51d82217620de1.pdf 6f36d48b8f8bd2a849449e26823e2645 PDF Text Text ED AND EVA (Silva) COOK Basswood Lake on the Canadian Border in Minnesota is the traditional home of the Ft. Bois Band of the Chippewas. The band has lived there as long as anyone remembers. Edward James Cook was born there in 1907. His parents, Joseph Cook and Mary Defoe Cook lived in a log house in a small village near the lake. Edward, Sr. could have maintained a simple life at the lake, but he had different ambitions. The Duluth and Iron Railroad has branch lines to the lumber camp near the reservation. Edward, Sr. went to work for the railroad. By the time Ed, Jr. was old enough .to be interested in trains, his father was an engineer. "Many times I rode in the cab of the steam engine with my father. He'd take a load of logs to the junction of the main line, then back to the lumber camp." But once back home the Indian ways prevailed. The Chippewas practiced a seminomadic life. Each family in the village had a log house which they used in the winter. But in summer, they each brought out a tepee and headed for the woods. A choice of many beautiful campsites was available and became the subject of much debating and speculation among the clan. The clan moved several times each summer according to the whim of the leaders as to the availability of fruits, nuts, berries, etc. (Lakes, ponds, streams, meadows, and deep woods were the options). Each season of the year the north woods offered their bounty .. Fruits and berries in the summer, nuts, and wild rice in fall, deer and moose to hunt all year round and maple sugar in the spring. "I can remember my grandmother boiling the maple syrup in a large iron kettle. She made sugar cakes and regular sugar - all good. In the summer time, if someone killed a moose, he would invite the whole band (5-6 families) to come share the meat. The whole bunch would move their camp to the site of the kill, butcher the animal and begin a feast with dancing and celebrating. Any meat remaining would be smoked and dried and distributed among the families." At six years of age little Ed was sent to the B.I.A. school at Pipestone, Minn. Through the years he attended a number of schools in Minnesota and South Dakota. In 1918 the flu epidemic hit the reservation hard, but since Ed's school was in an isolated area, the students escaped the epidemic. When Ed was a young man, he came to Towaoc, Colorado, to visit his sister, Tina Ulibarri. When a job came available, Ed took it and decided to stay. The B.I.A. sent him away to Diesel School so that he could operate electric power plants on the reservations. However, the most interesting thing Ed encountered at Towaoc was not a new job, but a young lady named Eva Silva. "I was a lonely bachelor and Eva was an available young working woman. We began dating and going to the movies in Cortez. Before long we decided to get married," Maria Eva Silva is the daughter of Eliseo Silva, a Santa Clara Indian and Henrietta Johnson Silva, a Southern Ute (Henrietta's Indian name was Cora.) Eva was born at her parent's home on Red Mesa in 1915. Eliseo was a hard-working, ambitious farmer. He raised wheat, hay, and all the family food -- vegetables, turkeys, chickens, pigs, geese, 36 �r') -, 'l 'J -, l J ' J ..., ) ) ) } ) ' ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) cattle, etc. San Juan and Plata, Eva's grandparents, lived nearby. Their English names were Samuel and Phoebe Johnson. "We had a beautiful life there," Eva remembers. "In those days the La Plata was a large river (before so much irrigation water was taken from it.) We played in the meadows and under the trees by the river. It was a peaceful and beautiful life. Whenever my dad wanted to visit his family, he hitched one team to the covered wagon and the other to the buggy. We followed the La Plata River to Farmington, then to Blanco where we forded the San Juan, across country to Regina, then to Coyote , and Abiquiu and on to Santa Clara. The trip required several days. We took plenty of supplies. I clearly remember the blue enamel kerosene heater Dad used to heat the wagon if it got too cold at night. The feasts at Santa Clara were wonderful. First there was a Mass, then a procession, then Indian dancing and feasting. Visitors could go into any house to eat." In 1918 this idyllic way of life was interrupted. Eva's mother and grandmother both died in the flu epidemic. A Mexican couple came to share the work on the farm and to take care of the children. When they left, Kitty Cloud came to help take care of the children. In 1920 Eliseo died of appendicitis. Eva and her two brothers were sent to the boarding school at Towaoc. In the summers they came back to Breen to stay with their uncle, Henry Johnson, on the farm. When Eva was 14, she moved to La Boca to live with her cousin Margaret Wright. Soon afterward she was sent to the vocational school at Albuquerque. Curtis Cutthair, Nettie Unca Sam and Nettie Burch Frost were all there. After she finished school at Albuquerque, Eva returned to Towaoc and was working in the hospital when she met Ed. Ed and Eva were married in 1936. Ed's career with the Indian service took him to many locations during the next 32 years. Shiprock, Toadelena, Window Rock, and finally back to Shiprock. Eva recalls, "I enjoyed living among the Navajo. I know there was an enmity between the Utes and the Navajos a long time ago, but I liked those people." _) J _) _) J J J Eva serves as chairperson of the Board of the Southern Ute Public Housing Authority. Ed keeps himself busy maintaining a beautiful yard and garden. At least they do these things when they are not traveling, which they do often. Marvin has sent Ed and Eva plane tickets to come spend Christmas with him and his family in California. We wish them a Merry Christmas and long and happy lives. December, 1976 -- SHELBY SMITH _) J J J J J J J J J J 37 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ed Cook and Eva (Silva) Cook Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1976-12 Subject The topic of the resource Cook, Ed; Cook, Eva (Silva); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Ed Cook and Eva (Silva) Cook based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the December, 1976 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cook, Ed; Cook, Eva (Silva) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/e0263dfdd97ffb760983e83943fb3566.pdf 719da150a3b2fd0cd2e036670e723591 PDF Text Text BEN & CARMEN (Valencia) CORDOVA Joe M, Cordova and his wife Manuelita were living in Silverton in 1914 when their first child was born, Joe was stationed there to work for the D. & R.G.H Railroad. Jose Ben was born March 31, 1914, "That was a bad winter, My dad tells me the snow was 3 feet deep in Silverton, People had to dig a trench to get out of their homes. My folks left Silverton soon afterward and came to Durango. Dad got a job at the smelter. When I got old enough to go down there, I would watch them bring in the railroad cars with the ore. It was already crushed and ready to go into the furnaces. Gold, Silver, lead and other metals were extracted. Three hundred men worked there every shift. Just as kids are crazy about cars today, we were crazy about horses and rodeos. My uncle kept race horses, some of them very expensive ones. Whenever there was a race or a rodeo at the fair grounds, we would go. Once when I was still a small boy, my parents told me to stay home, but that didn't stop me. As soon as they were gone, I headed for the railroad tracks and walked all the way to the fairgrounds. I was barefooted with a pair of bib overalls and a baseball cap. I enjoyed myself and raced home before my parents returned. My Dad asked me, 'Did you go to the rodeo today?' I said, 'No, I stayed home.' Again my dad asked me, 'Did you go to the rodeo today?' I said, 'No, I stayed home,' He then asked, 'Well, who was that barefoot boy with a baseball cap and the bib overalls?' The result was a good spanking for me.'' When I was old enough, my parents enrolled me in Sacred Heart School. Little did they know I would get into a fight with a nun on my second day at school. It happened this way. I sat down behind an Anglo girl. She told me she didn't want a dirty Mexican sitting behind her. Since the backs of the seats were slatted, I kicked her a good one between the slats. When she told on me, the nun came over and shook me. I did not take this peacefully. I fought back and in the process I pulled the nun's habit off her head. After a couple of years at Sacred Heart, my parents enrolled me in Park School which liked better since it bad playgrounds and better facilities. On weekends and in the summer, I spent a lot of time with my Herrera Grandparents at Marvel, If my parents weren't going down there in the wagon, I walked. My grandfather told me I wouldn't have to walk if I could catch some of the wild burros in the hills. The one I caught was very useful. I broke him to pull a cart. In the evenings and on the weekends the burro and I went up the road west of Durango where the coal wagons passed. Coal was spilled all along the way. In an hour or so I could pick up a load of it to sell in Durango, Another way to make some money in the summer was to herd cows for the town folks. Many people in town had a milk cow, but no pasture, For $2.50 per month I would take a person's cow to the hillside south of Smelter Mountain or up on the hill where Ft, Lewis College is now to graze all day. Then before milking time I herded all of them home. I would have a bunch of them. The first few days each summer, it was a chase trying to keep them together on the way out of town and a mess sorting them out to the right barns when we got back to town, but after a few days they calmed down and knew right where to go." As Ben got older he herded sheep for the Bodos, worked on the D. & R.G. Railroad, the Colorado & Southern Railroad(which ran the Galloping Goose) and finally got a job at the Castle Coal Mine. In 1942 Ben came to the San Ignatius Festival in Ignacio and was introduced to a young lady who was a friend of Ben's sisters and his brother Vic. Carmen Valencia met Ben at the dance. Carmen says, "I liked to go on dates and to dance but if a young man showed any extra interest in me, I just turned them off. That night at the dance I wanted 38 �,...., ,...., "I ') "I J to dance with everyone, but this one man kept coming back and back. He was so persistent. That was in July. He kept coming back all summer and during the fall. Finally, we were married in November of 1942. ~") } J J ) ) J ) ') ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) .J ) _) _) _) ·J ,._) J .J ...) Carmen's grandparents came into the San Juan Valley in 1876. Five families left the Huerfano country near Walsenburg in covered wagons. They camped and traveled for three months following the valleys westward. In September the caravan arrived at Turley near the present site of the Navajo Dam. Carmen's mother, Benerita Valdez, was born that fall. She was the first baby born among the pioneer immigrants in this area. When Benerita was grown, she married Manuel Valencia. They farmed in the San Juan Valley in New Mexico until 1927. That year two of their children died within two months. These tragedies prompted them to move to Colorado. Carmen was only five years old at the time, but she remembers how her mother kept count of the number of times the family forded the Pine river on the way. Since there was no road over the ridge to Ignacio, the Valencias simply followed the river. The valley is narrow and winding and steep cliffs rise abruptly first on one side, then on the other. Benerita became curious about how many crossings they would make. She tore the hem loose from one of Manuel's handkerchiefs and tied a knot every time they reached a ford. By the time they reached Ignacio, there were 13 knots in the hem. The family leased Harry Richard's farm near La Boca. Manuel died in 1931. Carmen and her mother moved to town. "When I started to school," Carmen says, "I could speak hardly a word of English. If we spoke Spanish there, we were put in the closet. When I was 16, my brother that was supporting us, decided to get married. I decided to go to work. The pay was not high. Household work 8-12 paid 25 cents. Also, I did baby-sitting and whatever I could find. Mother watched me like a hawk. I loved to dance and mother would take me, but if I danced more then three times with any one boy, we went straight home. I was 21 when I married Ben. We moved to one of the cabins west of Durango near the Castle Coal mine. Ben's shift was from 6:00 am to 3:00 pm. I was very spoiled and not used to being alone. I was afraid of the owls hooting in the woods. Our cabin had no curtains or blinds and to top it off, shortly after we got settled there was a report of a killer on the loose west of Durango. Well, I made newspaper blinds. If there was a killer on the loose, I didn't want to see him. After a year we moved to Ignacio. Ben worked for the county for a while until he was hired by Okla Lunsford. Then Dan Sandoval taught Ben all he knew about slaughtering animals. Ben worked in the slaughter house and the locker plant all his life until he recently retired because of disability." Carmen and Ben built their own house in 1950. They hired Pete Valdez to make the adobe bricks (1500 of them for $100.00). Each brick weighed 22 pounds and had to be turned every 3 days until dry. "It was a lot of work", Carmen recalls, "but we didn't mind it, we were so eager to have our own home." J The Cordovas had three children, Vickie, who now lives in Vail; Carmen (known to most people as Dee Dee) and Charles James who died when he was 6 years old. In 1961 they adopted Anthony. There are three grandchildren who, according to Carmen, "are the light of our lives". They are Daniel Ben Ryder, Deann Carmen Ryder and Dawn Garcia. Both Carmen and Ben are busy in community and church work. We wish them many more years of happiness. -~ J February, 1977 -- By Shelby Smith ...J ...J ...J .J .J J .J 39 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ben Cordova and Carmen (Valencia) Cordova Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1977-02 Subject The topic of the resource Cordova, Ben; Cordova, Carmen (Valencia) Description An account of the resource Biography of Ben Cordova and Carmen Cordova based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith in February, 1977. Included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cordova, Ben; Cordova, Carmen (Valencia) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/6391daf5e1c19d13ecf572b6f66ee197.PDF 0151bcd1e01325d6b747578095d96fda PDF Text Text [Title] Cicso Kid [Author] Ben Cordova When Ben was 15 years he lost his Mother Manuelita, his father Jose was left with 5 children to raise. Ben being the oldest, quit school and being bored would walk to Marvel from Durango. His favorite Uncle Marshal (Ben's Mother's Brother) had a ranch that his great Grand father Thomas had imegrated to New Mexico from Herrera, Spain, in 1800s. Was French and Spain Bask - Thomas homesteaded 160 acres of land near Marvel, Colo. where he raised his family. And that's where all the family cowboys were raised to be bull rider, Bronco horses. They would take Dad Ben with the family to parades and rodeos. After Dad got married to my Mom, he decided to ride as Cisco Kid in the Spanish Trail fiesta and started the San Ignatio Parade here in Ignacio. Holson's Bread asked Ben [page 2] [written at top of page] Duncan Ronaldo Leo Carrillo if they could sponsor him in the parades. He rode in Durango, Ignacio, and Pagosa. Uncle Marshal always had a horse for Ben to ride. The one horse Ben loved was "Blue Eyes" he looked exactly like Cisco Kid's horse Diablo. What my sister and I liked was going to the parades and rodeos. Always enjoyed watching Dad ride. He looked forward to summers and all his cousins the Herrera boys, but mostly his Uncle Marshal. Couple of summers James Romeo Dad's friend rode as Poncho, Cisco Kid's partner. [written in right margin] Loco Pane Horse When Ben started parades in Ignacio, all the Merchants here would donate money for Prizes. Also Ben started Christmas for kids, with bags of candy. As Ben got older he couldn't ride horses anymore. So he would ride in floats and give out candy. Before Ben passed away he asked us to dress hime up in his Cisco Kid outfit. [page 3] The funny memory I have is one of my classmates in grade school use to call me "Cisco Kid suspenders" cause I was thin and had to wear suspenders to keep my pants up. Thank you for asking me to write Ben's story. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Ink or pencil on paper Title A name given to the resource Story of Ben Cordova who played the Cisco Kid in many parades and rodeos, written by his son. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Voices of Ignacio Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Written letter Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Cisco Kid - Ben Cordova Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en Description An account of the resource Handwritten by Dede Cordova on Ben Cordova. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cordova, Dede Language A language of the resource English Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages Subject The topic of the resource Cordova, Ben; Oral Interview https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/2bb60b490242449f311ee2924a071726.pdf ea97c817c7910dd1616eaf72fa0d6969 PDF Text Text CONRADO DESIDERIO (C.D.) CRUZ On a warm day about the middle of May a wagon came rattling along a rocky road. At the crest of a small rise the clear swift Navajo River came into view. The shouts of the children and the smile on their mother's face were signs almost as plain as the warmth of the day that the long cold mountain winter was over and once again the time of new life and renewal had begun. The wagon stopped on a grassy rise near the river. The mother gave swift directions. "Ben, unhitch the team. Conrado, unload the wagon. Manuel, gather some firewood. Lucio, get a pail of water right away." The Cruzes camped at the river several times a year for a very simple reason. When you can't take the river to the wash, you take the wash to the river. Bedding, quilts, mattress covers, clothing, curtains, and every other washable item in the household was brought the eight miles to the river several times a year, washed by hand in the rocky shallows on the washboard, dried, folded and carried home smelling sweetly of mountain air and sunlight. Each wash required 3-4 days. The boys fished, hunted, waded in the river, frolicked, ate like mules, helped with the washing chores when necessary and enjoyed the whole affair. Conrado Desiderio (C. D.) Cruz, 2nd son of Leandro and Rafelita Cruz was born in Chimayo, N. M., on February 19, 1914. The family moved to Chama, then to Haines north of Cuba and finally to Dulce where Leandro worked in a lumber mill. Leandro wanted land of his own. When he heard about a homestead available near the town of Edith, he took the chance and filed on 160 acres of dry land. Soon afterward the Cruzes settled on the land. Their neighbors came in force, chopped down trees, hauled logs and helped erect a well-constructed, warm log house. This same cooperative spirit prevailed during the rest of the year. "Our neighbors watched one another's fields. Wherever the wheat ripened first, the whole neighborhood would gather for the harvest. The wheat was cut with hand scythes and tied in small bundles. As soon as one field was finished, the neighbors would move to the next ripe field. If the moon was bright, the men often stayed with the job until 12:00 or 1:00 o'clock. Everyone enjoyed helping their neighbors and got a lot of work done together. I think people were happier then." The Cruzes raised most of what they ate - potatoes, beans, habas, squash, peas, fruit, wheat, oats and blue corn. Whenever they needed flour, they and their neighbors would take several wagon loads of wheat and corn to the mill at Bayfield or the one at Tierra Amarilla. It would take several days to reach the mills and then perhaps a week for the grain to be ground. Those who had money paid for the grinding. Those who had no money could pay the mill with grain. It was a good thing the Cruzes raised their own wheat. C,D. says with a family of eleven it was common to use up a 50 lb. sack of flour each week. Garden produce was either dried or kept in the cellar. Dried apples, apricots and peaches were apportioned out to the children during the winter. The children relished these fruits as much as any Sunday sucker. C.D. did not get to attend school every year and when he did, it was usually for only 2-3 months in the winter. He rode a burro to school 8 miles across the border in Colorado, carrying hay for the animal and lunch for himself in a 3 lb. lard can. "I wasn't any angel," C.D. freely admits. "Whenever, the teacher sent a student to the river for willows, it was usually me or Ben they were used on." When it came to throwing rocks, dipping a girl's pigtails in ink, getting into fights or playing hookey, it was C.D. involved more often than not. A girl named Margie Abeyta was a special problem to C.D. "She was a bookworm and a tattle-tale. Even when I hadn't done anything, she would tell on me and the teacher would always believe her." C.D. hated old Margie as only children can hate. He 40 �"l -, -, -, ., ., would never have believed it if anyone had ever told him that Margie would one day be his wife. ) ' ') ' ") -) ) -) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J J J ) J ..J _) _) ...J During the summers C.D. and Ben were assigned to herd the sheep in the hills near their home. C.D. "suffered" from a strange affliction which can only be called 'sleeping sickness'. "As soon as we'd get the flock over the first hill, I'd find a shady patch of bushes and go to sleep." Ben complained, Mr. Cruz threatened, but C.D. couldn't resist the lure of his siestas. "Dad caught me one day, took me straight to the house and told Mother to put me to bed and keep me there all day. I couldn't sleep a wink in the house. I guess that broke me." Over the next ten years Leandro and Rafelita slowly increased their flock until they had about 1,000 head. C.D. remembers November of 1931. "The lambs had been separated and taken down from the high country. The ewes were still there. No one expected 7 feet of snow that winter -- much less did they expect it to start this early. Overnight 3-4 feet fell. The herdsmen started immediately for their winter grounds in Gobernador Canyon. It continued to snow. We broke a trail for the flock with the horses and mules until their legs were sore and bleeding. Every day many sheep died. We finally realized the snow was as deep at Gobernador as it was in the mountains and just gave up. Only about 50 sheep survived. That winter just about wiped out everybody." One year C.D.'s cousin, who had bought 10 acres up on the Navajo River, hired him and Ben to clear the willows. They worked 15 days for a .22 rifle and a guitar; then another 5 days for a violin. Neither of the boys had ever played an instrument before, nor was there anyone to give them lessons, but they taught themselves to play and soon were being hired for parties, weddings and other celebrations. When times got hard in the 30's, C.D. joined the CCC and was sent to camp at Los Alamos, N.M. He was paid $25.00 per month. $20.00 was sent home and the other $5.00 was issued to the boys in the form of coupons for candy, cigarettes, etc. The boys were often given passes to Espanola or Albuquerque or Santa Fe for the weekends, but anyone who had not returned to camp by bed check was put on K. P. duty for 2-3 months. Conrado was on K.P. a lot of the time. When C.D. and Margie Abeyta (his old enemy from grade school) decided to get married, both sets of parents were opposed. Their reasoning was simply that a horse and a mule should not get married. C.D. was known as a hell-raiser and Margie was a school teacher and pretty much the same book worm as before; but in spite of the opposition, they were married in 1935. C.D. worked as a logger while Margie taught school. From 1939-48 C.D. herded sheep in Utah from spring to late fall and spent the winters at home. They had four children - Yvonne, David, Sofie and Deanne. Margie died in 1955. After working in the coal mines in Dragerton, Utah, and on the pipe lines near Farmington, C.D. moved to Ignacio and married Concie Keys - - - - - - (missing last page) . ...) November, 1974 - Shelby Smith ...J ...) ...) ,..) ,..) ,..) ....J ...J 41 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conrado Desiderio (C.D.) Cruz Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1974-11 Subject The topic of the resource Cruz, Conrado Desiderio; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Conrado Desiderio Cruz based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the November, 1974 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cruz, Conrado Desiderio Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/d3ba0469ae5f1519b4b1d0e51245cb4d.pdf c810f46e5c1762b56e5ebf73a71e267d PDF Text Text BELLE (Williams) CUTHAIR Belle Hancock Williams, one of seven children of Price Williams and Maria Capote William, was born in the Florida Valley of La Plata County, Colorado, on January 12, 1906. "My parents owned a frame house in the valley just south of where the narrow gauge railroad crossed the Florida River. (1& 1/2 miles south of where the present U.S. 160 crosses the river.) The valley was not cleared for hay fields then. II was full of sage brush. There were huge clumps, some 5 feet tall and so thick we used it for firewood. My parents could hunt and fish and gather wild food, but my father wanted better things for his family. He decided he would have a better chance for jobs if he could speak English, so after he was married, he went to Fl. Lewis to learn English. When he came home, he brought a Navajo boy named Jake who was in trouble with the Ft. Lewis people. Jake stayed with us a long lime and helped with the work. My father got a job at the lumber mill. He drove a team lo drag logs. He had his own horses and mules and donkeys. He cut wild timothy down by the river and in hollows watered by the springs coming out of the Florida Mesa. Our nearest neighbors were a Mormon family. They loaned my father their mowing machine and then he would share the hay. Every summer and fall my parents sent me out to pick blue berries, chokecherries, buffalo berries and Indian bananas (the fruit of the soap weed). The Indian bananas were my favorite. When the stalk gets dry and the pods hang down their heads in the fall, they are ready lo pick. They are as sweet as apricots. I've been back to the places where we used to pick them, but the deer and elk always get them first. We also picked wild onions and wild spinach. Sometimes my parents bought a bitter plant from the Mexicans for medicine." After a few years, Belle's parents moved over to her grandparent's farm 3 1/2 miles north of La Pasta in the Animas Valley. Belle soon learned all about milking goats and herding sheep. "Most of the milk we made into keso (cheese). It's a simple thing. You boil the milk. Squeeze the juice from the Soap Weed into the milk and boil it some more. Let ii cool. Then put the milk in a cloth and let all the water drip out. The keso we made was something like cottage cheese." Belle was finally sent to the Indian School at Ignacio. She well remembers the big sign there which said, "Don't talk Indian," but even so Belle mostly enjoyed the school. "It was more fun than milking goats and herding sheep!" Belle's mother died when she was fourteen. "I stayed with my grandparents for a while. Then I got a job at La Pasta working for the Candelario Vigil family who owned the store and dance hall there. I cleaned, carried water and helped with the cooking. I lived with that family two years and they treated me very well. In 1922 Superintendent McKeen sent me to school at Towaoc. In the summers I didn't have any place to go, so I got a job working at the Wrightsman Hotel in Mancos. Ellen Watts and I both worked there two summers. We washed dishes, ironed table cloths, 42 �picked berries and cherries and currents and made them into ice cream and pies. Near the end of the second summer Ellen and I heard about the Spanish Fiesta in Durango. Our jobs were about to end at the hotel, so we took the train to Durango to watch the games and the races. When we found the Indian camp, we located Daisy Eagle, Ellen's sister. She took us home with her to Spring Creek." Belle attended the Haskell Institute in Kansas until she was 18. When she came back to Colorado, she worked for the hotel at Mancos again. Ellen Watts got married and it wasn't long till Belle had married Curtis Cuthair. "I met Curtis in Mancos. We had known one another several years. Finally, one summer Curtis came to see and said, "I don't have a family of my own. I'd like to settle down and have a family to be long to." Curtis had been to trade school. He got a job operating the steam heating system at the Agency in Ignacio. In his spare time he farmed his place north of Ignacio where the family home is located . Belle and Curtis had seven children, Richard, Garnet, Christine, Larry, Vera, Laverne, and Darlene. ) ) ) ) ) ) _) J _) J J .,_) .,_) J .J J Curtis probably never dreamed his wife would become a movie star, but that happened last year. Belle was selected to be in the cast of the movie "Winterhawk." She and Thelma Kuebler appeared in mountain scenes in their native dress. Belle enjoyed her part in the movie very much. Whether they knew it or not, when the casting crew chose Belle, they chose someone w ith authentic ties with and memories of the tribal history of this area. Belle says, "My grandmother was a half-sister to Ouray. My grandparents moved around with Ouray and fought the Comanches with him over the salt in the San Luis Valley. They chased the Comanches all the way to Antonito once and killed a lot of them. At one time there were Indian trails all through the mountains. My grandparents traveled there, hunting and fishing during the warm time and in the winter time settled in the valleys. I might know more about the old days, but when I was a child, it was not proper for children to ask many questions. When I wanted to know something, my mother would often say, 'Don't ask questions. Mind your own business. You are too young to know'." Belle's memories of her own time are very strong. "I can remember our home in the sage brush in the Florida Valley. I remember learning the worship dance from Tom Newton's mother and the oldest memory I have as a little child is the time - I must have been about three -when I was wrapped in a blanket and tied on my aunt's back and she was dancing and dancing and dancing. I can't forget things like that." February, 1976 -- Shelby Smith .,_) .,_) J J J J ·....J 43 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Belle (Williams) Cuthair Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1976-02 Subject The topic of the resource Cuthair, Belle (Williams); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Belle (Williams) Cuthair based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the February, 1976 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cuthair, Belle (Williams) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/69fe79e53079fabacc4018ce3e946988.pdf 25716e7a5fc9dfaff05dab6b2f8ea7d7 PDF Text Text ANDY AND LUCY (Valdez) DURAN Not many youngsters can say "I was the 14th child in my family." Fewer yet can say, "I was the 14th child in my family and I have 6 younger brothers and sisters," but Lucy Duran can make both statements. When asked what it's like to grow up in a house full of people, Lucy says, "My older brothers and sisters took care of me, carried me, dressed me and fed me. Mother was busy all the time. She never stopped. The older kids had to help with the younger ones because mother had only a little time to spend with each child. When Lucy was 4 years old her parents, Cornelio and Ferminia Valdez decided to leave Blanco, New Mexico, and moved to a farm south of Ignacio. "When I look back on those days, I think how poor we were, especially compared with today. We each had one set of clothes and one pair of shoes. When the shoes were worn completely out, father would try to buy us another pair." "Father and the boys were always busy on the farm. They raised grains and hay. We produced our own potatoes and beans and corn and everything else we could grow. Mother dried apricots and peaches and vegetables. In the fall our cellar was full of potatoes, squash and apples. After it was cold enough, the butchering would start. The hams were coaled with curing sugar, wrapped with cheese cloth and stored in the cool house. We hung a leg of beef outside and covered it with a sheet. Whenever-we wanted meat we went out and cut off whatever portion was needed. In the spring 1the leg of beef was moved into the cool house until it was used up." "We seldom ever came lo town except lo go to mass on Sunday. Dad and the boys hitched the team to the big wagon. To keep our dresses clean we threw quilts into the back of the wagon. If the weather was bad, we stayed home and Dad read the Bible to us." Transportation in the old days seems slow lo people today, but it was dangerous at times. Lucy recalls, "Once Dad and Mother and Mary were driving the wagon from La Boca to Ignacio. When the tail of one of the horses got caught in the reins, it became very frightened and bolted. The wagon turned over. Dad and Mary were unhurt, but Molhe~s leg was broken. After Dad got the wagon tipped up again, he lifted Mother inside and brought her to Dr. La Forge." Like most children of her generation, Lucy loved to ride horses. "We always rode bareback lo bring the cows in. We liked to ride fast and to race. At that time I would rather ride horses than anything." Lucy got lo go to school in the country a few years. then the family moved to town. "I was a little afraid to go to school in town because I could speak hardly any English, but I met Jesse Stauffer and Frances Copeland and we became good friends. Within a week or so I could get along with the English pretty well. I began earning my first money washing and ironing clothes for Mrs. Wayt (Vida Ritter's mother. ) I went early before school to wash and hang the clothes. At noon I would take them off the line and sprinkle them. Then in the evening I ironed them. I made $.75 an hour doing that." 44 �., ., ., ~ ., ~ J J ) ' ) ) ' ) ) ) ) ) ) ) _) "Dad didn't care for dances, but Mother loved them. She often took us kids to the dances at the S.P.M.D.T.U. Hall. It was at one of the dances there that I met Andy Duran. Andy's first wife had died some time before. We dated for about two years and then decided to get married. Andy Duran was born in Durango on October 29, 1902. "Dad didn't care for dances, but Mother loved them. She often took us kids to the dances at the S.P .M.D.T.U. Hall. It was at one of the dances there that I met Andy Duran. Andy's first wife had died some time before. We dated for about two years and then decided to get married. Andy Duran was born in Durango on October 29, 1902. His mother died when he was still a small child, so his grandparents raised him in Rosa, N.M. Andy quit the 8th grade to go to work on the railroad. He was still working on the railroad when he and Lucy were married. The Duran's have 10 children, Andy Jr., Cornelio, Jack, Orlando, Rudy, Lillian, Eileen, Corinne, Martha and Yolanda. As a railroad employee, Andy and his family had-free tickets to ride the train. Most of their travel was back and forth to Durango for shopping and visits. In 1941 Andy was moved to Rico as Section Boss. After a couple of years there he got an opportunity to work in the mines at Telluride and Ophir and stayed with that for 12 years. That is definitely not easy work, but living there provided a magnificent place for the children to grow up. Probably no place in this country has more spectacular scenery or more opportunity for outdoor fun than the mountains around Telluride. Lucy remembers, "Our house was full of fishing gear, snow shoes and skis. The boys were out camping or hiking or fishing or hunting as much as they could. Even today the boys take their families over there and camp and fish and try to share that beautiful place with their children." ) ) ) ) ) ) _) ). _) Boys, even good boys like Andy's and Lucy's, are rascally at times. "They were in and out of mischief," Lucy recalls. "I especially remember the time they and their friends were daring one another to ride the tram cable across the valley." A tram with big ore buckets carried the ore from the mine down to the mill. Unknown to us the boys had been daring one another to jump up and grab a hold of the cable and hold on until it carried them across the valley to the next hill where they could jump off. I guess some of them had been doing it. Finally, it was Cornelia's time. What he didn't know was how close it was to 12:00 noon. At noon the mine whistle went off and everything, including the tram stopped while the miners had lunch. Cornelio was about halfway across the valley when the whistle blew and the cable stopped. Well, no one can hold on for an hour. Cornelia's arms gave out. He fell and fortunately, only broke a leg." ..) ..J .J J J J J ..J J J J .J ...) "For several years the family lived in company housing at the mine at Altus (Alta). Sometimes we were snowed in for a week, but we always had plenty of coal and plenty of food stocked up. Avalanches would cover the roads and the big rotary plows would have to come dig it all out." As anyone knows who lives around Ignacio, Andy and Lucy have wonderful children. Their method of child rearing is as follows: "We always tried to make our children understand that God should be first in people's lives and then a good education so that they can earn a living and be of use to others. Children should be whipped when they are bad until about age 12. From then on they have minds of their own and if they haven't learned right from wrong by then it's probably too late, anyway." 45 �When the mines closed around Telluride about 1954, the Durans moved back over to Ignacio. Andy did farm work around this area until it was time to retire. But like many other active people have discovered, retirement is not necessarily that much fun. So Andy is working again this summer. When asked if there is something she would like to do that's never been possible, Lucy replies, "I have always dreamed of going to Rome to see the Pope, but that's a long way over there." Even if Lucy never -gets to go, she and Andy can look back on a panorama of life experiences with many good memories. Their lives have spanned great changes in this country. Both still enjoy good health. We wish them many more years of health and happiness and wish their children many more reunions at Telluride. September, 1975 -- Shelby Smith 46 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Andy Duran and Lucy (Valdez) Duran Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1975-09 Subject The topic of the resource Duran, Andy; Duran, Lucy (Valdez) Description An account of the resource Biography of Andy Duran and Lucy (Valdez) Duran based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the September, 1975 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Duran, Andy; Duran, Lucy (Valdez) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/261af9895f19472f57a169bd7361c6db.pdf 88a4169e8f92a9dfbcec8df8a3b0dd68 PDF Text Text JOE (Audera) DURAN Jose Rosario Duran was born July 24, 1907, at Perdenales, Chihuahua, Mexico. The town of Perdenales sits in the Sierra Madre Range in the west part of Chihuahua. Jose has little memory of his life there. His father, Flores Alfonso Audera, died when Joe was an infant. This was followed by the death of his mother, Frances, in 1915 when Joe was 8. It is a matter of speculation what would have become of Joe if he had spent the remainder of his life in Mexico. However, when his aunt and uncle, the Du rans, who lived in Encinada, New Mexico, heard about their sisters death, they decided to go see about the family. What they found was little Jose, 8 years old, in need of a new father and mother. They brought him home with them and changed his name Audera to Duran. ) _) ) ) ) ) ) .) _) "My uncle, Rosario Duran, was a black smith. As soon as I was old enough, he began to teach me some of the trade. My aunt Dolores Duran died when I was 11 . Soon after this my uncle sold out and moved to Edith, Colorado. I never went to school even one day. There was always too much work to do. At the age 14 I began herding sheep for Felix Garcia, then later on for Charley Red. "Once in a while we had trouble with bears attacking the sheep and would have to go on a bear hunt." Jose and his wife had 6 children. "They are Miguel and Arturo who live in Ogden, Utah; Juanita and Rumaldo who live in Albuquerque; Mary Montoya who lives in Blanco and Rosa who lives in Chama, New Mexico. Between jobs with the sheep herding, Joe worked in Harry Smith's sawmill in Lumberton. In 1944, even though Joe was 37 years old, he decided-to join the army. The war was still going strong. Joe was sent to the Pacific and spent time in Hawaii, and .the Philippines and Japan. After 7 years he came home to Edith, which he used as home base for the next 11 years. In 1962 Joe sold his' farm at Edith, moved to Pagosa and worked for San Juan Lumber until he retired. In the spring of this year he rented one of the apartments in the Senior Center in Ignacio where he has proved to be one of the best gardeners in La Plata County. Two years ago Joe got to return to see his relatives in Perdenales, Mexico. Joe looked at the dry mountains surrounding the town and wondered how different his life would have been if his aunt and uncle had not arrived in 1915. _) October, 1978 -- SHELBY SMITH ._) _) _) ._) _) ._) J J J J J J ~ 47 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Joe (Audera) Duran Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1978-10 Subject The topic of the resource Duran, Joe (Audera); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Joe (Audera) Duran based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the October, 1978 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Duran, Joe (Audera) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 1 page Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/db2da01a8a8936878ff64b2e7dee41ba.pdf 1cbf0bbc8d67b50487d89e9afb451454 PDF Text Text DAISY HOUSE (Cheetah) EAGLE "My mother was Fannie House, a relative of the House family at Towoac. Jack House, the last chief of the Ute Mountain Utes was my cousin. My father was John Cheetah from Northern Ute, I do not remember him since he died shortly after I was born, but my mother told me he was a blacksmith at the old Indian Agency north of town. Before my mother married John, she was married to Julian Buck. My half-brother, Daniel Buck, attended the Santa Fe Indian School, but died while he was still a young man. My two half-sisters were July Turner and Ellen Watts. July was kicked by a horse and died while she was a young girl," "I was born February 22, 1904 at the Southern Ute Agency, The long white building where I was born is still there. The first place I can remember living was a canvas wigwam located just across the bridge east from Ignacio. Since my mother was a widow, she worked very hard making beadwork and beaded moccasins and leather saddles to sell. She taught me to do beaded belts and moccasins. When I was 5 years old she sent me to the Southern Ute Boarding School. Dolly Watts, Edith Burch and Ollie l)ler started at the same time. We all cried. We were afraid and we didn't want to go. It was just as bad as we thought it would be. The big girls pinched us and teased us. The next year I got to go to Spring Creek School, It was a small country school with a lot of Anglo children. That's where I learned English." "In 1918 the terrible flu epidemic came across the country and my mother died from pneumonia. I went to live with my cousin, Paige Wright at La Boca. I helped herd the sheep and do other work. It was at La Boca School I finished the 8th grade, A few years later I met Amos Eagle. Amos liked to do farm work. He had worked as a farm laborer at Rocky Ford. We were married at the courthouse in Durango. Our first home was a 3 room adobe house on my mother's Spring Creek Allotment. It was a Wjlrm house and big enough for us at that time. Amos was a good farmer. He raised hlly and grains and sheep and cattle. He sold cows whenever we needed money. In the'winter he sold hay from a big haystack to the white people. We had many good neighbors. We helped them and they helped us, I can remember helping the white ladies can cherries and other food for the winter, Amos had a buggy with a lop which we drove to Ignacio on Saturdays to buy food and see the people. Sometimes today at the store, I see people I remember from those days, but they are old ladies now and I have forgotten their names, I remember the San Ignacio Fiesta many years ago. The Spanish people put up little stands to sell fruit and tortillas and there were foot races and horse races." "Amos and I had four children and adopted one. Ivy is the oldest, then Mildred, who died when she was a baby; Leona, who died of fever when she was 12; and Judy. Beverly was adopted. We sold my mother's allotment to the tribe and moved to town about 1956. Amos died 6 years ago. I always liked the Bear Dance and used to cook food for the feasts. With one hand stiff, I can't do my beadwork and I can't cook very easily, but I still like to go to the pow wow to listen and watch." Shelby Smith, taken in July, 1979. 48 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Daisy House Eagle Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1979-07 Subject The topic of the resource Eagle, Daisy House; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest, Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Daisy House Eagle based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the July, 1979 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Eagle, Daisy House Extent The size or duration of the resource. 1 page Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/7aad58cf64d5dad1f3ef09294bd90894.pdf 4fdb4323c4db7632b7987ec665246af7 PDF Text Text 'l ~ , ,, , ,' ~ ·, J ) ) J J l -) ) ) ) PARIS AND MADELINE ENGLER "I went into the asparagus business when I was 5 years old. Mr. Stauffer at the market in Rocky Ford gave me 10 cents a bunch. As long as the asparagus lasted l could walk the mile into town and make a profit. But that was nothing compared to the well-digging business Paul Edwards and I started the next year. We dragged out picks and shovels and started to work. The well was four feet deep and-progressing nicely when Paul's brother George lay down on the edge to watch and promptly got himself hit in the head with the backswing of a pick. We thought we'd killed him. He recovered, but our welldigging business was dead. The scene of all this enterprise was my parent's (Francis and Estella Engler) seven and one half acre truck farm in the Arkansas Valley. I was born in a tent near Rock Ford on July 28, 1898. My parents raised melons, corn, green beans and asparagus in that rich valley soil, selling it from the wagon in Rocky Ford, La Junta, and Lamar." "In 1904 Dad was ready to move on for the same reason he left Ohio. It was getting too crowded. When Dad was 19, he and a friend Ike La Ford drove a spring wagon pulled by a single horse from Ohio to Wyoming where he worked in a sawmill before going on to Colorado. In Denver Francis was hired on the construction crew building Elitch Gardens. It was there he met Estella Bird Beans and they were married in 1897." ) ) ) ) ) ) 1 J _) J ....J J _) ..J J ._) -..J ....J -..J J "In 1904 Dad and I rode the train to Allison, Colorado to locate a homestead. We camped in a tent on Jack Riddle's place until the remainder of our things arrived on the train two weeks later. All we brought to start the farm was a mare and a gelding, a cow and a heifer and two hives of bees. Our mare immediately ran off with a herd of wild horses. After days of chasing and a lot of help from neighbors, we cornered them in a box canyon and got a rope on her. The land was all pinon forest. If you wanted open land you had to clear it. The first year we opened up 9 acres. The one acre we planted to oats we had to cut with a sickle. Fortunately one of our neighbors had a horse-powered threshing machine which he let us use. Our first house was a simpl·e frame building made with lumber we hauled from Bayfield. It had an earthen floor and was not large. I slept in the wagon box filled with straw and later in the barn until we built our permanent house in 1915." 11 After we moved out here my dad was mainly interested in his bee hives, his orchard and his cows. He made a deal with me for clearing the pinons. I got all I could raise off the land I cleared the first year. I remember one year raising hundreds of pounds of potatoes. They sold for 26 cents per sack. Some of them were so large that 3 together weighed up to 1O pounds." "We bought our first hay baler for $6.00. It was in bad shape, but repairable. Most of our hay was shipped by train to the sawmills which used a lot of horse power. We decided to trade hay for the lumber to build our house. I stayed out of school one term to do the transporting. I used three horses to haul 20 bales to the train and returned with 600-700 board feet of lumber each trip. We dug the basement, hauled sand from Spring Creek and quarried rock. Old man Star came down from the mesa to help us lay the rock for the basement. It was a double wall 16 inches thick. We finished in 9 days." J J J J 49 �"Dad's bees did so well here, he decided to ask Lee Pennel's father, whom he had known back in Rocky Ford, to move on out. We raised a lot of comb honey. At times the Pennels and us shipped out several thousand pounds of comb honey on the train. It was my job to pack it in the railroad car just so with straw braced between the boxes." If the engineer bumped the cars too roughly while linking up or switching, he got a good chewing out from my Dad. Once Mr. Bendure, who worked at the station,,.,., ...... (page missing) 50 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Paris Engler and Madeline Engler Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1981 Subject The topic of the resource Engler, Paris; Engler, Madeline Description An account of the resource Biography of Paris Engler and Madeline Engler based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith sometime between 1973 and 1981. Included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Engler, Paris; Engler, Madeline Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/ccae8df7e83c41e18f20ba60bb215f42.pdf 49eececa3a801be5f99cc51caf28202e PDF Text Text 'l I'"") ' 'l "") 'l } ' ) J ) ) ' J ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) _) _) j ..J J J j J ..J J ...) ...) J J J ...J ....) EMMIT EVANS Emmit Bud Evans and his twin sister were born August 7, 1896, at Old McGee in the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma Indian Territory near present day Stratford in East Central Oklahoma, Their parents, Isaac and Mary Ann had a total of 12 children. After living at Old McGee for several years, the family moved to Maud, a small settlement in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, When Isaac was a young man, he worked for the Butler-Stewart Cattle Co, driving herds from East Texas across the Indian Territory to join the Chisholm Trail at Enid. Since there were no railroads into Texas in the 1870's and early 1880's, the only way the great herds of Texas could reach the markets in the East was by means of the classic cattle drives 600-800 miles north to the railheads in Kansas. On one of these drives Isaac met Mary Ann. They were married in 1883. Isaac had wintered one herd of cows in Barber County, Kansas and was so impressed with the quality of the buffalo grass that he decided to move his family further north into either Kansas or Oklahoma. Everyone who traveled in Oklahoma in frontier times sooner or later had a tale to tell about crossing one of its rivers. During most of the year, except after heavy rains, the rivers of central and Western Oklahoma run mostly underground. The South Canadian is typical. Though the river bed may be a mile wide, only a few channels run water. The remainder of the bed is sand or the dreaded quicksand. People wanting to cross with wagons would hitch four or more mules and make a run for it, whooping and hollering to spur the critters on. Most people made it, of course, but every year a few wagons and animals and occasionally some people were lost in the quivering sands. The Evans made it to Maud, acquired a farm and built a log house, Emmit recalls, "Dad was strictly a cattle man and so all of us boys had to learn to ride, rope, bulldog and brand, I can still hold any steer in the country. Just give me his tail and throw him and I'll hold him down," "Dad built our log house out of Cottonwood, That's good building material, but you better drive your nails before it dries or you may not get them in. Even the rafters were cottonwood 2' by 6's. Once they dry they'll hold up anything. We raised enough food in our garden to feed the whole family all year. Mother kept our canned food and potatoes, carrots and cabbages in the cellar. We got all the wild fruit we wanted. There were the little sour red sand plums for jelly and a large sweet plum for eating fresh . Then there were paw-paws and the persimmons and Black Haws which got us fat for the winter. That country is full of Black Walnut Trees and Native pecans. Every fall each of us kids would gather all the pecans we could sell at 4 cents per pound, and then we put away 100 pounds for ourselves, which we stashed under the stairs. No one bothered anyone else's sack. On cold winter evenings we would crack and eat all the pecans we wanted. Sometimes we'd play hully-gully. One of us would hold 2 or more pecans between our palms and shake them till they rattled. By the sound the other person would guess how many there were. If he guessed right, he got the pecans. If he guessed wrong he had to give the other person an equal number of pecans from his supply." 51 �"Since there was no school at Maud, I didn't start at 6 years of age. When Emma and I were 10, Dad took us to the Meckusuki Mission School, a boarding school over on the Seminole Reseivation. We didn't like it a bit. We got there at 1:00 in the afternoon. By 10:00 at night we had walked all the way home. We expected Dad to be mad, but he decided that if we were that unhappy, we wouldn't have to go. Though I didn't realize it at the time, I had met an exceptional person at the Mission School. Jim Thorpe, all American athlete and Olympic star, was enrolled in the Meckusuki School the same day I was. He ran away, too. His father brought him on horseback. Jim didn't wait as long as we did to run away. In fact he out-distanced his father's horse and was home before his father, evidence of the great runner he would become." Not long afterwards, a school was built at Maud. It was a rough building with homemade benches and boards for writing, but we had a good teacher. Alva Christian was from Tennessee and he took no nonsense from the kids. The children at Maud school were normal, healthy, husky, rascally frontier kids full of mischief. Mr. Christian was a match for them. He kept 15-20 dogwood switches of various thicknesses behind the map case and he used them. Emmit says, "He had eyes in the back of his head. If we were inattentive or naughty or dull, he went for a switch. He'd throw it to us, order us to bring it to him and then proceed to wear it out on us. Such methods seem harsh today, but he was a good teacher. He made us learn. He taught us vocal and instrumental music and public speaking. Every Friday night he required us to participate in a "literary''. A crowd from the surrounding territory came to these affairs to witness the students in debate, extemporaneous speaking, recitations and music. It was one of the few entertainments available to frontier people." After 7th grade students had to pay tuition of $2.00 in order to attend high school. Emmit didn't have the money so the businessmen in Maud paid the tuition so he could play football. "We had a great team, but no coach," Emmit remembers. "A couple of our teachers, Mr. Greggs and Mr. Geisinger knew a little bit about the game, but we were on our own. Even so we beat Shawnee, Seminole, Ada and all the other big towns around there. I joined the National Guard in high school with no idea it would involve me in the first real adventure of my life. When Pancho Villa started raiding across the border, our unit was called up and sent to Brownsville, Texas, with General John Pershing, who later became famous in World War I. Since I could speak Spanish passably because of a course or two I had taken, I was assigned as Pershing's interpreter. We raided across the border and tramped around. Except for a few shots fired at banditos we didn't accomplish anything. Back home I finished high school and got a football scholarship to attend Phillips University at Enid, Oklahoma, a college sponsored by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). We had a great year. Our coach was Johnny Maulbautch, AllAmerican halfback from Michigan. We beat Oklahoma University, Texas University and everybody else we played. My studies there were interrupted by World War I. After some training at Houston, we boarded a cattle boat at Galveston for France. The stench on that trip was memorable. The ships traveled in convoy to get some protection from the German U-Boats. We landed in England and then on to Bordeaux. I was assigned to the Headquarter Co. of F215 Field Signal Battalion in the Belmont Woods. The war was 52 �I"") .. . .-, ') } ' ' } ' ) nearly over except for the time several of us got paid and went AWOL to Paris. The tripback was on another darned cattle boat, 19 days to Boston . " By the time Emmit got back from the war, Phillips University had dropped its football program, so he got a scholarship to attend Southwestern University at Winfield, Kansas. He was involved in football and track. Back in high school Jim Thorpe had told Emmit if he wanted to be an Olympic winner he could never smoke and needed to train all the time. Emmit did this and was chosen for the American Olympic team which went to Stockholm, Sweden in 1920. "I came in second in the 100 meter dash. At least I was beaten by an American." ) ] } ) ' ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J ) ) J _) .J ._) ..J ,.J ...) ._) J ..J J J ..J J J .,_) J In 1921 Emmit married Gladys Ely. She died in 1929 of pernicious anemia. There were no children. During the years Gladys was alive Emmit was coaching football at San Antonio Military Academy. They stayed there for 6 years until Gladys became quite sick, then moved back to Winfield, Kansas. Emmit was hired as superintendent of schools at Sharon, Kansas, then at Medicine Lodge, Kansas. In 1933 Emmit married Madge Aubley. They lived in Medicine Lodge until 1945, when Emmit semi-retired and moved to Pagosa Springs, Colorado. "I liked to hunt and fish," Emmit says, "and Pagosa was right in the middle of the best I could find." In succeeding years Emmit taught school in Durango, then Cortez, then as superintendent at Dove Creek and at Kit Carson, Colorado, until 1959 when Madge died. Madge and Emmit had three children. Virginia Springmeyer now lives in Canon City; Mary Jane Nelson how lived in Hawaii and Emmit Bud Jr. lives in the Piedra Valley north of Navajo Lake. The girls were already gone from home when Madge died. Emmit moved to Fort Collins so that Emmit Jr. would have the advantage of better schools. Though officially retired, Emmit took a job as Larimer County Librarian till 1964. About this time Emmit and Jr. built the Indian Head Lodge on Williams Creek Lake. They sold groceries, gas etc. and enjoyed the wilderness. After Junior finished college, he received a $25,000 fellowship to work towards his Ph. D at the University of California at Berkeley. After acquiring his degree, Emmit Jr. worked at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography near San Diego, until last year when he came to stay in the Piedra Valley for a while. Three of Emmit's eleven brothers and sisters are still living. One brother lives in Phoenix. One sister is in Oklahoma City and his twin sister, Emma still lives in Wichita, Kansas. Mr. Evans stays in the Piedra Valley in the summer. In winter he takes off for Mexico or other points far away. Right now he is enroute to Maud, Oklahoma, to participate in his high school's 60th class reunion . "As far as I know one other lady and I are the only ones in our class left. I'm looking forward to seeing her if she is still alive." How much fun and rascality and adventure can be packed into one life? That depends, of course upon who we're talking about. If it's Emmit Evans, the answer is a lot. Shelby Smith, June 1977 53 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Emmit Evans Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1977-06 Subject The topic of the resource Evans, Emmit; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Emmit Evans based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the June, 1977 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Evans, Emmit Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby